The cellular market in 2003 was around 150-160 million devices in the U.S. and this number is growing at over 10% per year at least. Europe already has 320 million cell phone users, and the global market is over 1.4 billion devices.
Cell phone carriers are looking for opportunities to increase both revenue and profits by providing new services. For example, recently cell phones have been provided with browsers to allow surfing the internet from the phone. One of the needs businesses, families and individuals have is the need to know where their employees, children and friends are. No two way position information sharing technology currently exists as far as the applicant is aware.
The one way location sharing prior art includes On Star and the Mercedes Benz TeleAid services where, via GPS receivers and cellular phone capability built into a car, an aid center can track cars all over the world and speak with the occupants and sense when the cars airbags have deployed. Other commercial services allow parents to track the locations of their children in a one way location sharing manner. None of these services allow the occupants of the car to know where the aid center is or allows the children to know where their parents are.
Another need is for a system for use by motorists, hikers, pilots and boatsmen to allow them to be able to contact rescuers and know the location of the rescuers as they come to the aid of the stranded person and to allow the rescuers to know the location of the victims they are trying to rescue. This need requires that cell phones have the capability to be reconfigured in the field to add an “instant buddy” to the list of people with whom location information is shared. The prior art kid tracking systems could not be reconfigured in the field to add new individuals with whom location information was to be shared.